Shades Of Grey
by ViceBachelor
Summary: Grayson Follet is now 15 years old and can set off on his long-awaited Pokémon journey. But when Team Remnant, a risen-again branch of Team Plasma tries to take back Unova, will he be enough?
1. New Perspective

**Shades Of Grey**

 **Chapter One: New Perspective**

My name's Grayson and today is my 15th birthday.

After the Plasma Rebellion 10 years ago, the age for heading off on a journey was changed. The new age is, as you might have guessed 15.

Which means I'm of age.

Which means I get my first Pokemon.

Which means I can set off on my journey and escape this hellhole I call a home.

I live in Nuvema Town, where the people are nice but OH MY VICTINI SO BORING.

My journey will fix that.

Today I get to pick my lifelong partner, companion, and friend: I get to pick my first Pokemon. Of course, I'm picking Tepig. Who wouldn't? Strong, dependable, great evolution. You can't lose!

Of course, someone else will want Tepig, which is why I'm rushing to the lab right now. I will be the first there and I will get my Tepig! I run up to the glass doors of the lab and shove them open when my heart sinks.

"Grayson! Hi!" Standing in front of me is Alicia Juniper-the professor's daughter, who was of course grouped with me to receive our starters. She was the only person who could've gotten here before me to ruin it all, and, of course, Tepig was on her shoulder.

I huff before grunting "Snivy" and sinking to the floor. Professor Juniper laughs and calls "Reuniclus!" I open my eyes and see a green blob of a Pokemon levitate into the room. Juniper raises an eyebrow at me and Reuniclus surrounds itself in purple aura, lifting me up and propping me on my feet, albeit a little unsteady.

Alicia sticks her tongue out at me as her mom gets Snivy's ball ready. I notice that Tepig's a little excited, as its embers have already scattered themselves onto Alicia's light brown skin and chocolate-colored hair. Alicia blows smoke out of her hazel eyes as Tepig coughs, slightly easing me up. Finally, Professor Juniper returns.

She hands me Snivy's Pokeball and nods. I smile sincerely, now genuinely excited to have a Pokemon, especially a Snivy. A close my eyes and toss the Pokeball in the air. Halfway to the ground, it opens, releasing a ray of light that forms into Snivy. I smile. "Hi Snivy. I'm your new trainer, if you'd like. My name's Grayson." I sit down, so i can be closer to my starter. Professor Juniper quickly hands me a black pokedex and I scan Snivy.

" _Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokemon. Being exposed to sunlight makes its movements swifter. It uses vines more adeptly than its hands. This specimen is male with the ability Overgrow and known moves Tackle, Leer, and Vine Whip._ " I grin and Snivy nods, smirking. I make note of the cool, calm, mature, humorous tone his movements are and decide his nickname.

"Ren," I say, breathing heavily. "What?" Alicia asks, confused. I turn to face her. "That's gonna be his nickname," I turn back to Ren, "Is it okay?" Ren nods and I log it into my Pokedex: **First Pokemon: Snivy, Male. Nickname: Ren.** It's mandatory that all Pokemon are logged. The penalty for not doing it is, like, jail and loss of custody of your Pokemon. It's pretty bad. Needless to say, that's not my plan.

Alicia turns on her Pokedex and scans her Tepig, who is now on the floor. " _Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokemon. It can deftly dodge its foe's attacks while shooting fireballs from its nose. It roasts berries before it eats them. This specimen is male with the ability Blaze and has known moves Tackle, Tail Whip, and Ember._ " Alicia smiles. "Do you want a nickname, Tepig?" Tepig tilts his head and smiles, clearly not comprehending the sentence. I laugh and Alicia glares at me before cracking a smile. She turns back to Tepig. "No nickname then!" Tepig cheers, but I figure he just sensed the tone. Alicia turns back to me finally and puts one fist up. "Wanna battle, Grayson?"

I look down at Ren and raise my eyebrow. He looks at me and grins before nodding. "You're on, Juniper Junior." Alicia squeals and runs out the door, Tepig in tow. I look at Professor Juniper and she smiles at me, nodding. Ren follows me as I walk out the door. Alicia is ready on the practice field across the dirt road. She waves and yells, "Come on, loser, we don't have all day!" I smile and shake my head before making my way across. Alicia claps her hands impatiently as I stand behind Ren on my side of the field. Professor Juniper walks out of the lab and across the street before stopping in the Referee Box in the middle.

"This is an unofficial one-on-one battle between Alicia Juniper and Grayson Follet! Each side may use only one Pokemon, and the battle has ended when either side is out of usable Pokemon! BEGIN!" She shouts the last word so loud that I flinch, which gives Alicia an advantage. She commands Tepig to use Tackle so fast that, despite Ren's best attempt to dodge the attack, the Snivy is still clipped and sent sprawling. But I'm not giving up yet.

"Ren, use Vine Whip, throw Tepig!" I shout, determined to beat the Professor's daughter. Ren nods and a vine comes out of each side of his collar and extend towards Tepig. Tepig panics and tries to escape but the vines entangle him and lift him in the air. I grin as Ren prepares to launch Tepig across the field when Alicia yells, "Ember!" Tepig exhales and small fire balls cover the vines, freeing Tepig but dropping him forcefully, hurting him. Ren then tackles Tepig, knocking him back. I smile at his battle initiative.

Alicia sighs and raises her hand. "Why are we doing this?"

I raise my eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"These are our first Pokemon. This battle is so boring. They only know three moves and if we keep going like this, we wouldn't be able to leave today; it'd take forever to finish this fight."

I nod thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess." I turn to Professor Juniper and raise my eyebrow. She nods and guides us inside. "I'll heal your Pokemon for you guys." I smile. "Thank you," I turn to Ren. "You ready, buddy?" Ren nods and jumps into his Pokeball.

I follow Professor Juniper into her lab, smiling, and excited for the journey ahead.

 **AN: Hey guys! This is my first story so I hope you enjoy it! I actually really like it, but feel free to leave any constructive criticism you want to! I hope I can finish the next chapter by next week!**

 **QOTD: Favorite Color**

 **AOTD: Black**

 **P.s. The title isn't a reference to 50 Shades of Grey, it's because of Grayson's name and the fact that it takes place in Unova, which was Black and White, and that this story is all about the moral gray areas.**

 **P.p.s I think I'm going to have a theme that all the chapter names are song titles.**


	2. Bird Set Free

**Shades Of Grey**

 **Chapter 2: Bird Set Free**

I love being a pokemon trainer.

Freedom has never been something I've had, because of my overprotective parents, but now that I'm on my journey with my snivy, Ren, things are looking up. After saying goodbye to my family, I set off on Route One, feeling like a bird set free. I was ready for whatever came my way.

Unless that whatever was Alicia.

Now here I am, fifteen minutes into my journey, slightly pissed, with an annoying know-it-all professor's daughter by my side. Now _that's_ a party.

My silver lining is Ren. Despite the language barrier, we seemed to have clicked. He communicates through grunts and hand gestures and, of course, his species name. His understanding of human language astounds me, as I'm 15 years old and still don't know what people are talking about half the time, but Ren seems to understand immediately.

We walk for about an hour, the only sounds being our footsteps, the wilderness, and the occasional grunt from Ren, until Alicia half-whispers, "I know you hate me." I turn to her and stop walking. "What?" I asked, shocked at her forwardness. She sighs and looks down. "You're not very subtle about it. I know I'm annoying, but I'm not trying to-" I interrupt her, "I don't hate you." She looks up and starts to get angier. "Then how do you explain the groan you gave when I decided to come with you? Or the glare you gave me at the lab? Or the name you called me when you were talking to Calvin?" She started to break down on the last sentence, her voice cracking and tears welling in her eyes.

I sighed. Honestly, I forgot all about the conversation I had with Calvin about a week ago.

I was on the bus with my friend Calvin. We were talking about our journey and how excited we were, when he mentioned Alicia. I groaned and may or may not have said, "I hate her, she's such a stuck up little bitch."

Apparently, word gets around fast.

"Alicia, I-" She turns away. "No," she huffs. "Save it." She continues walking, picking up her pace, which I wish she would've done a few miles back. I call after her, "Alicia, wait!" but she continues. Suddenly, she stops. I take my chance. "Listen, Ali-" "Calvin." I freeze. "What?"

She turns to me and frowns. "Calvin," she repeats. Suddenly, my dumb ass realizes what she means: "We left Calvin in Nuvema Town."

This is apparently hilarious to Alicia. She starts laughing, giggles at first, but soon it escalates into a full-blown roar of laughter. It's this that wakes Ren up from his nap on my shoulder. It's also what sends a whole flock of pidove scattered across the sky. Well, not a _whole_ flock. One pidove, angry instead of startled, hurls itself at Alicia. Instincts kick in, and I tackle her to the ground, just narrowly avoiding the dive-bomb. Alicia, dried tears on her face, stands up bravely and summons Tepig from his pokeball.

This catches Pidove's attention. The bird pokemon once again swoops towards us, but this time at Tepig. Right when he's about to make impact, Alicia calls out, "Ember, let's go!" Tepig huffs and tiny fireballs pelt Pidove, who loses enough momentum to only nudge the fire-type pokemon. Pidove takes back to the air, hovering only slightly below ten feet in the air, burn marks apparent. "Good job, Alicia!" I call, "You burnt it!" She turns to me and smiles reluctantly before commanding Tepig further. "Alright Tepig, Ember, and then Tackle!" Tepig shoots the small flames again, knocking Pidove out of the sky before tackling it, hurting it severely. The flying-type manages to get up shakily and flap its wings for a Gust attack before collapsing from its burns. Alicia gasps excitedly before throwing a pokeball at the fainted pidove. The ball sucked the bird pokemon in and clicked.

1,

2,

3 times. The pokeball dinged and Alicia picked it up proudly before whipping out her pokedex and scanning the capsule. " **Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon pokemon. Pidove, while very loyal and trustworthy, have limited mental aptitudes. This makes them very capable pokemon for beginning trainers. This specimen is female with the ability Big Pecks and the moves Tackle, Growl, and Gust.** "

As I retrieve two potions out of my bag, one for Tepig, and one for Pidove, I ask Alicia, "What's Big Pecks?" She looks up from logging in her new pokemon and thinks for a second. "I think it means Pidove's defense can't be lowered by attacks." I nod and hand her the potions. She first sprays Tepig, and then releases Pidove from her pokeball. Alicia sprays Pidove, awakening her from her unconsciousness, but failing to remove the burn. Pidove coos and looks down at her burnt breasts. Alicia sighs and apologizes, "Sorry, Pidove. I don't have any burn heals, so that might have to wait until the Pokemon Center." The pidove coos again, almost indifferent, but I chime in anyways. "Oh well, we're not that far away from Accumula Town. A half hour at most." This cheers Alicia up, and Ren as well, who had been awakened from his nap by Alicia's earlier breakdown. Speaking of,

"Alicia are… we good now?" I ask uncertainly. She looks at me and that sad expression from earlier is back. "I… I don't know, Grayson." I sigh, "Alicia, I don't hate you. Do you get on my nerves sometimes? Yes. Am I a little salty that you've always had an advantage over me? Also yes? But I don't hate you because, as crazy as this sounds, _you're a good person_ , and you've got a good heart, and whatever path you chose to take on this journey, it's gonna be a damn fine one, you hear?"

Alicia smiles and blushes slightly. "I guess you're right." I grin. "Of course I am."

We walk for almost a half an hour, exchanging casual conversation, until we see Accumula Town. I look at her, grin, and sprint. Ren, surprised, follows me just as swiftly, making me question whether or not he learned Quick Attack. As soon as we reach the Town Limits, I turn and see Alicia and Tepig jogging to us. As they catch up, we all make our way into Accumula Town, and head straight to the Pokemon Center. Accumula is a very nice place, with lots of stone and a very relaxed feel. There's a bridge above us, connecting two raised stone slabs with houses lined on top of them.

Alicia and I both return our starters and hand our pokeballs over to the Nurse Joy at the counter. We only wait for about two minutes before she calls us to the front. "Grayson, your snivy is in very good condition! If you train it right, it might be able to match even the toughest pokemon out there!" I blush and thank her for her evaluation. "And Alicia, your tepig shows some very promising potential as a physical attacker! Be sure to utilize that! And your pidove is very smart for its kind, so it'd be very wise of you to see to what extent you can train it to! " Alicia grins and replies, "Thank you Nurse Joy!" The nurse smiles and says, "Any time!" We collect our pokeballs and walk towards the door. We're only outside for ten seconds before an explosion occurs and the screaming begins.

 **AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger! Anyways, sorry for the delay, but I've been a little busy. Also, the next chapter is when things start to get really interesting and the villainous team is introduced. Also, thanks to the two of you that reviewed lmao I took them into consideration while writing this. Until next time!**

 **QOTD: Fav song right now?**

 **AOTD: No One by Alicia Keys**


End file.
